p during
our absence.

I never met with people, in any part of the world, who possessed a more
peaceable friendly disposition--such perfect honesty and constant
good-humour, with a very fair amount of intelligence. Their courage and
perseverance are expended in overcoming the beasts which form their
subsistence, and there are few opportunities of developing their
intellectual qualities; but in many respects they are, in my opinion,
far more civilised than a large proportion of their brethren in the
south, who claim to be the most enlightened nations in the world.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

We had been all so busy in building our house, and in bringing our
stores from the ship and in stowing them away, that none of us had
wandered a quarter of a mile from our location. The Esquimaux seemed
perfectly to understand what we were about; and when they saw that our
work was completed, they came with their sledges and made signs to us
that they wished us to come and pay them a visit at their abodes.

By Andrew's advice, five of us were to go first, and the remainder were
to go on our return. Terence and I and David, and two other men,
signified our willingness to accompany our new friends. I stepped into
Ickmallick's sledge, and the rest were accommodated in those of the
others; and the dogs being told to get up and step out, off we set at a
good rate along a valley in which the snow already laid pretty thickly.
As there were no fields, or hedges and ditches, we were able to follow
the most convenient track, though certainly not the shortest, for we
twisted and turned among the hills for the sake of getting a level road
so as to treble our distance, as we found afterwards that we could reach
the spot to which we were bound almost as speedily on foot.

The Esquimaux location was on the shore of a little bay, opening on a
deep fiord to the south. It was a sheltered and romantic spot; and in
some respects, we at first thought, superior to the one we had chosen.
As we turned round a point of rock we came in sight of a number of tents
of some size, arranged along the shore at regular distances from each
other. As we appeared, their inhabitants rushed out to meet us--men,
women, and children--while the dogs, no insignificant part of the
establishment, hurried up the hill to get out of our way, not liking our
appearance, or perhaps their masters' whips, which were used with no
sparing hand.

We drove up to the tents in f